As the world's only superpower, the United States naturally has a global perspective on its military strength.

The United States has divided the whole world into six major theaters, namely the Northern Theater, the Southern Theater, the Pacific Theater, the European Theater, the Central Theater, and the African Theater.

In order to better command the US forces distributed around the world, the US military has also set up 10 joint combat commands, of which six are theater commands and the other four are functional commands.

And the one in charge of the war in Africa is naturally the African Command of the US military.

U.S. Africa Command is mandated to be responsible for the stability, security, health, and welfare of the African region's institutions, countries, and peoples.

Of course, these are just official words. In fact, AFRICOM was not established because in recent years, Africa's abundant resources, huge market potential, and increasingly prominent strategic position in military and security have made it more and more important in the eyes of Americans.

The United States has stepped up its "civil" and "military" offensive against Africa. On the one hand, it has strengthened its penetration and inducement into various African countries through economic means such as trade, investment, aid, and debt relief.

On the other hand, under the banner of "counter-terrorism" and "peacekeeping," the United States is constantly expanding its military presence in Africa.

Compared with other commands, Africa Command was established in 2007, which can be regarded as the shortest established theater command.

And what is even more surprising is that the headquarters of AFRICOM is located in Stuttgart, Germany!

The reason for this is that the Americans, who originally wanted to base themselves in Africa, simply couldn't find a country willing to let them have their headquarters.

For this reason, even US military and political officials have taken turns to visit Africa, and even the US president has personally taken part in the battle. However, this PR effort has been unsuccessful.

Even Morocco, which the United States considers its closest ally in North Africa, has publicly denied rumors of a willingness to host the U.S. African Command.

In this way, the United States will be a little embarrassed, and in order to alleviate this situation, the Americans have once again found a new way, that is, to break the whole into parts!

This was done by setting up a branch of the U.S. Embassy in Africa as a way to disguise identity.

These branches, known externally as the "Office of Security Cooperation", have two to four personnel who are responsible for liaison and coordination between AFRICOM and the host country's military.

Now, U.S. Africa Command has taken over the leadership of the U.S. Special Forces Unit in Djibouti, with 182 military missions from three commands: Europe, Central and Pacific.

After 4 years of development, it is also on the right track at this time.

And in 2011, the most important thing in Africa was the civil war in Villa, so of course this could not escape the presence of Africa Command.

In fact, the U.S. Air Force, which is mainly responsible for air strikes against Villa, is a unit subordinate to the U.S. Africa Command.

Moreover, there is another important purpose for the US military to set up a command in Africa.

That is, to ensure Africa's energy supply to the United States!

According to projections, African oil will account for 25% of total U.S. oil imports over the next three to four years, more than U.S. oil imports from the entire Gulf region.

So the Americans will definitely want to take all of Africa under their control, just as they did in the Gulf at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Wells was right when he said that AFRICOM needed manpower.

Because this was the most critical time of the Villa War, the eyes of the entire Africa Command were on this region.

In this way, the Africa Command is a little stretched thin on the affairs of other countries in Africa.

It's like Nigeria now!

The Federal Republic of Nigeria, a country located in the southeastern part of West Africa, is located at the apex of the west coast of the Gulf of Guinea in Africa.

Neighbouring countries include Benin to the west, Niger to the north, a short national border with Chad across Lake Chad to the northeast, Cameroon to the east and south-east, and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south.

Although this country may not be well-known in the world, it is the most populous country on the entire African continent!

Nigeria has a total population of 173 million, accounting for 16% of Africa's total population, and it is also the largest economy in Africa!

Of course, these things are nothing at all for the United States, the world's sole superpower.

What Americans value more is that Nigeria is a major country in Africa's energy resources!

It is also Africa's largest oil producer and exporter.

According to the results of the exploration, Nigeria's oil reserves rank second in Africa and tenth in the world; The proven natural gas reserves rank first in Africa and eighth in the world; Of the 76 minerals that have been discovered, 34 have commercial mining value.

All this is what attracts the attention of Americans!

Over the years, Nigeria's political situation has remained largely stable, and since the sixties and seventies, a civil war has led to the introduction of elected politics in Nigeria.

Since then, social development has been relatively stable on the whole.

However, as ethnic and religious conflicts intensify in the country and terrorist activities become more frequent, Nigeria's security risks are rising.

In this way, there is a great threat to the United States.

Not long ago, Nigeria's QuaIboe oil field was temporarily shut down due to threats from militants, workers were evacuated and crude oil was looted from storage tanks.

Coincidentally, the closed oil field was operated by ExxonMobil in the United States.

The news had already reached FECOM's headquarters in an instant, but for various reasons, AFROCOM was unable to send sufficient personnel to resolve the matter.

And most importantly, Africa Command does not dare to intervene in this matter openly at such a time, after all, this is something that happened in other countries, and at this time when Nigeria is in a period of integrity and tension, who knows what kind of consequences the United States will cause if it really sends people.

It is simply impossible to send troops under such circumstances, and even if the Department of Defense agrees, the US State Department will not agree.

And because of the special reason that AFRICOM exists, it is somewhat different from all the other commands, or it can be said to be innovative.

AFRICOM will be composed of generals sent by the Ministry of Defense and diplomats sent by the State Department, and its 1,300 direct personnel will also be half military and half civilian.

However, this has created a peculiar phenomenon. That is, to make military personnel subordinate to the command of diplomats, which has no precedent in American history. Since it is the headquarters, there is no reason for civilian officials to sing the leading role.

Moreover, the US Department of Defense and the State Department have always been at odds, and it is common for them to constrain each other. Although it is impossible to really drag their feet in the face of major rights and wrongs, but when they encounter such an indecisive thing, then they may not be so easy to talk to each other!

Thank you, Mr. Xiaolu, a book friend? 100 book coins tip!

(End of chapter)